Virginia's Tucker taking time off

Virginia men's basketball coach Tony Bennett says senior forward Jamil Tucker is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team.

Bennett said in a news release Wednesday that Tucker needs time off to deal with some issues. The first-year Cavaliers coach declined to provide more specifics during a conference call.

Tucker, a 6-foot-9 player from Gary, Ind., played in all 28 games last season for the Cavaliers and started four. He averaged 7.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Virginia also will be without 7-foot center Assane Sene when it opens the season Friday night against Longwood. Sene is suspended for three games for conduct detrimental to the team.

More trouble for Gophers' White: Suspended Minnesota freshman forward Royce White is being investigated in the theft of a laptop computer from a campus dormitory room last weekend, a team spokesman said Wednesday.

"I don't have any real details other than the police are investigating a theft at a dorm and Royce's name came up," Gophers spokesman Garry Bowman said.

White already faces charges for allegedly shoplifting and shoving a security guard at a mall last month.

Football

61-year-old wants to get his kicks: He hasn't played a down this season, but a 61-year-old graduate student is hoping to play this weekend for a Texas team.

Tom Thompson of suburban Dallas says he is ready to kick for the Austin College Kangaroos when the Division III school hosts Trinity University in Saturday's season finale.

Thompson tells KXII-TV that he was a backup kicker in high school, but that was more than 40 years ago. He says he "had to learn how to kick all over again."

Coach Ronnie Gage says he's unsure whether he will play Thompson on Saturday, but he praised the man who has "gone through a lot of hard work and a lot of pain to be able to do this."

More football

Spiller playing with pain: Clemson's C.J. Spiller says his toe hurts all the time, but it's not going to stop him from playing.

The turf toe has bothered Spiller almost the whole season. The Tigers play at N.C. State on Saturday (noon, WRAL, WNCT).

Spiller, a senior, says the only thing that can heal it is rest, and that's not happening with the No. 24 Tigers closing in on a spot in the ACC championship game.

So for now, Spiller gets up every day before sunrise, and dunks the toe in a bucket of ice water, then gets it stretched out. He'll repeat the treatment at least once more.

Unfriendly skies: The Boise State-vs.-Idaho rivalry has taken to some not-so-friendly skies.

University of Idaho athletic director Rob Spear says he declined to board a Horizon Air flight after learning the airplane was painted in Boise State's blue and orange colors.

Spear was traveling to Boise on Saturday for fundraising events. He requested another flight and then drove about 90 miles north to fly from the Spokane, Wash., airport to Boise.

Boise State and Horizon Air unveiled the plane, which sports the team logo on its tail, as an ode to the Broncos this month.

Noles all even: Through nine games, Florida State (4-5, 2-4 ACC) has scored the exact number of points it has allowed - 278.

While the average of almost 31 points a game is an improvement for the offense from recent years, the defense is poised to break two dubious school records set by the 1973 team, which gave up 30.1 points and 445.1 yards a game.

Men's soccer

A-Sun pushes tournament back: Heavy rain postponed today's scheduled semifinal round of the Atlantic Sun tournament at Buies Creek until Friday.

On Friday, top-seeded and host Campbell (8-9-1) faces fifth-seeded Mercer (6-10-2) at noon. Second-seeded Stetson (12-3-2) will face third-seeded East Tennessee State (6-8-3) at 3 p.m. in the other semifinal.

The championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday.

From college news release

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